Mads Mikkelsen wants Hannibal fans to know that he isn’t giving up hope that the series will return at some point, Entertainment Weekly reported. At the moment, it seems as if the series has no hope of returning, but the actor who played Dr. Hannibal Lector wants the viewers to know that he will never give up hope that the series could be revived.
“We are all angry. We were p—–. It’s madness. And season 4 was actually the one we thought we’d definitely get. Seasons 2 and 3 were on the verge. We didn’t know whether Hannibal would be renewed. But by the time we got to season 4 we thought it was a definite. We were very surprised at the decision. We were happy to be able to do it for as long as we did. However, we felt there were more stories. We thought we ended the show in a great way, but we had more to tell.”
#MadMikkelsen ’s #RogueOne role to be an ‘Oppenheimer-esque’ character! https://t.co/i0tp9MqIVx pic.twitter.com/kyPC6oJhbF
— melty_com (@melty_com) January 8, 2016
Right after NBC made the decision to cancel the series, Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller revealed, via social media, that the producers were looking into “other options for the show.” The Hannibal fans, dubbed “Fannibals,” felt as if Fuller was trying to convey not to give up hope because the show would eventually return.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxzEBczLuRE
Just after he revealed that they were exploring other networks as a home for Hannibal , Bryan teased that they were “considering” moving the series to a feature film. Mikkelsen revealed that the fate of Hannibal rests in Fuller’s hands, and he was a pretty busy man lately.
“It all depends on Bryan. He is the key, the base, the heart. We will wait and see what happens next in his career. But we all know that we can easily pick this up in two or three years, there are breaks in the stories. We could pick it up, say, four years later. If Bryan is up for it, we will all go for it.”
Bryan Fuller is currently working on Starz’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and the upcoming Star Trek series revival. In the meantime, Mads revealed he isn’t slowing down while he waits to hear the fate of Hannibal . He will be seen next in Men & Chicken, Doctor Strange, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story .
Mikkelsen explained that he will keep doing films until a role as unique as playing Hannibal Lector comes along again.
“It’s hard to go back to TV when you’ve done something as complete as Hannibal. It was everything I could dream of in a role. I’m going back to film until something as radical comes up, which may very well be more Hannibal .”
Mads stated in an interview with IGN that he believes Hannibal was cancelled not due to viewership, but due to piracy . Apparently, Hannibal was one of the most frequently downloaded shows in 2015, and an estimated 1.2 million people illegally downloaded the show. He revealed if they would have watched the program on the NBC website or the television show, Hannibal would still be on the air.
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Mikkelsen went on to state he would like for Hannibal to wait to return for four or five years. He believes that it would benefit the show for Hannibal Lector and Will Graham to age, and return to wrap up the storylines. It’s still up in the air if Bryan Fuller wants to revive the series. At the moment, the odds of the show returning (at all) seem pretty small.
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[Image via NBC]